LINKS WITH ARMENIA REINFORCE FRENCH FEARS: TURKEY’S ALLEGED GENOCIDE IS SEEN IN FRANCE AS A BARRIER TO EU ENTRY
By John Thornhill
Financial Times (London, England)
October 1, 2005 Saturday
London Edition 1
Every year France celebrates another country by organising bilateral
visits and cultural exchanges. In 2004it was China, and the Eiffel
Tower was briefly lit up in red. This year it has been Brazil –
hence the samba dancers at Paris plage.
Next year it will be Armenia. The choice of a small Caucasian country
of 3m people highlights the importance France attaches to Armenia.
This is mostly due to France’s 450,000-strong Armenian community,
which has grown increasingly rich and influential.
But the timing of Armenia Year could hardly be more discordant for
President Jacques Chirac if, as expected on Monday, France and the
European Union’s other 24 members signal the start of accession talks
with Turkey.
Armenians in France and elsewhere have been opposing Turkey’s entry
into the EU – unless and until Ankara acknowledges that the death
of Armenians during the break-up of the Ottoman empire was an act of
genocide. Armenians claim up to 1.5m people died in 1915-18. Turkey
denies genocide, and admits only that hundreds of thousands of both
Armenians and Turks died, largely as a result of civil war and famine.
The French parliament has already declared the massacres to have
been a genocide. And Mr Chirac has himself been sympathetic to the
Armenian cause.
Harout Mardirossian, president of the Paris-based Committee for the
Defence of the Armenian Cause, says Turkey has been a “a country in
denial” for 80 years that does not conform with the values espoused
by the EU.
“How can you imagine Germany being integrated into the European Union
in the 1960s if it did not recognise the Holocaust?” he says.
In spite of Mr Chirac’s support for accession talks with Turkey,
most of his compatriots are against the move. A recent Eurobarometer
poll showed that 70 per cent of French respondents opposed Turkey’s
entry into the EU with only 21 per cent in favour. Opposition to
Turkish entry boosted the victorious No vote during May’s referendum
on Europe’s constitution.
Those opposed to Turkey’s accession range from Islamophobic
nationalists to Armenian campaigners to fervent pro-Europeans who
believe the entry of such a large country would kill off the dreams
of a federal EU.
Earlier this month, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former French
president and father of the European constitution, said French voters
had clearly expressed their opposition to Turkey’s entry.
He noted: “There was a clear contradiction between the pursuit of
European political integration and the entry of Turkey into European
institutions. These two projects are incompatible.”
Mr Chirac has argued that Turkey’s entry into the EU would recognise
a great civilisation, extend Europe’s hand to the Muslim world, and
help energise the EU’s economy. But he has also guaranteed French
voters a referendum on whether to accept Turkey’s entry into the EU
once accession talks are completed.
However, Sylvie Goulard, a Europe expert at Sciences-Po university,
says this move deceives the French and Turks. “Resistance to Turkey’s
accession is not going to disappear in 15 years. Even if the Turks
have successfully reformed themselves, they will still share a border
with Iran and Iraq. You cannot change the nature of the EU without
a proper democratic debate.”
Whatever the EU leaders decide, the issue of Turkey will loom large
through the 2007 presidential elections and beyond. Nicolas Sarkozy,
president of the ruling UMP party and a strong presidential contender,
has already stated his firm opposition to Turkey’s accession. Dominique
de Villepin, the prime minister and rival presidential contender,
has doggedly defended Mr Chirac’s line.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER FORCED TO REVIVE CONTROVERSIAL BILL
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2005
Risking renewed friction with his government allies, parliament speaker
Artur Baghdasarian was forced on Monday to revive a controversial
bill that would partly compensate hundreds of thousands of Armenians
who lost their lifetime bank savings following the Soviet collapse.
The move came after Baghdasarian was again challenged by an opposition
lawmaker to honor a key campaign promise which helped his Orinats
Yerkir (Country of Law) party to do well in the last parliamentary
election.
The partial restoration of the savings, wiped out by the hyperinflation
of the early 1990s, was a major theme of Orinats Yerkir’s discourse
in the run-up to the 2003 vote. The pledge struck a chord with a
considerable part of Armenia’s electorate still reeling from the
post-Soviet economic collapse.
Baghdasarian and his party drafted last year a bill that calls for
$83 million in public funds to be paid to the former deposit holders
within the next ten years. But its passage by the National Assembly
was blocked by the government which argued that the modest sum
would make little difference and should instead be spent on social
programs. The government’s stance was endorsed by the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund.
The issue came under renewed spotlight last December when a maverick
opposition parliamentarian, Hmayak Hovannisian, unexpectedly managed to
force a parliament debate on it after collecting a sufficient number
of signatures from fellow lawmakers, including those representing
Orinats Yerkir. However, Baghdasarian avoided putting his bill to the
vote after President Robert Kocharian set up an ad hoc commission of
government experts charged with looking into the problem.
The commission submitted a confidential report to Kocharian last
month. According to Armenian press reports, the authorities decided
not to make it public.
The confidentiality of the process led Hovannisian to press for
another parliament debate on the issue. Baghdasarian responded by
making sure that the Orinats Yerkir bill, co-sponsored by 36 lawmakers,
is included on the parliament agenda.
However, Galust Sahakian, the leader of the Armenian parliament’s
largest faction controlled by Prime Minister Andranik Markarian’s
Republican Party (HHK), indicated on Monday that the parliament
majority will block any discussion of the bill at least until the
government formally proposes its budget for next year. The draft
budget approved by ministers last week does not envisage any financial
compensation to the former deposit holders.
Sahakian made it clear that the HHK continues to believe that the
loss of the population’s Soviet-era savings was irreversible and
that Armenia is too poor to even partly restore them. “The savings
can not be the monopoly of any party. They belonged to the people,”
he told RFE/RL in a stern rebuke to Orinats Yerkir
Baghdasarian’s party is often accused of resorting to populism.
Still, its overt refusal to get the government to address the
contentious issue in one way or another would damage the ambitious
speaker’s credibility in the eyes of his supporters.

TURKEY CHALLENGES EU TO BE “WORLD PLAYER”
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Oct 2 2005
Turkey’s prime minister challenged the European Union on Sunday
to be a “world player” rather than a “Christian club,” as the bloc
deliberated whether to open formal membership talks with the largely
Muslim country.
“The picture … will be very telling, not just for the future of
Turkey but also for that of the EU,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a
conference of his Justice and Development Party in the northwestern
spa resort of Kizilcahamam.
“Either the EU will decide to become a world force and a world player,
which would show its political maturity, or it will limit itself
to a Christian club,” Erdogan added, in an address broadcast by the
CNN Turkey TV station. The prime minister described the decision on
opening formal accession talks as a “test” of the bloc’s commitment
to the values of pluralism and democracy.
EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg on Sunday night in an 11th hour
bid to agree a negotiating framework, which has so far been blocked
by Austria’s objection to full membership for Turkey. Vienna favors
the alternative of a “privileged partnership” with Turkey, an option
rejected by Ankara, which threatened this week to not attend Monday’s
negotiations if such a plan was on the table.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, arriving for the emergency
meeting, warned that the 25-member bloc stands at a key moment in
its history as it prepares to start membership talks with Turkey.
“This is a crucial meeting for the future of the European Union,”
he said, underlining that failure to start the talks “would represent
a failure for the European Union.”
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana voiced optimism about the
talks. “I think we will find a deal tonight,” he said.
But France’s foreign minister said that the starting of talks doesn’t
guarantee eventual membership. Many top French politicians favor the
“privileged partnership” option.
“To make believe that negotiations mean entry, that’s a lie, Philippe
Douste-Blazy said in a radio and television interview.
Now or never
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned Sunday that Turkey was
unlikely to reopen membership negotiations if official entry talks
did not begin as scheduled on Monday.
“I cannot see them happening again,” he said in an interview with the
Yeni Safak newspaper. Saying that he considered Oct. 3 as nothing
more than an “implementation date” for decisions already taken by
the bloc in December, Gul reiterated that Turkey was not prepared to
“begin negotiations whatever the price.”
The bloc approved Monday’s planned accession talks on Dec. 17,
providing that Turkey implemented certain legal reforms and broadened
a customs union to take in 10 new member states, including the disputed
island of Cyprus.
Turkey has met these obligations, although concerns were raised at the
European Parliament in Strasbourg last week over Ankara’s refusal to
let Cypriot ships and planes use its ports and airports, as required
by the customs deal.
Relations with the bloc have also been strained by Turkey’s declaration
in July reaffirming its refusal to recognize the government of Cyprus
and by Ankara’s refusal to recognize a genocide” against Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, a highly sensitive
issue for Turkey.

LAVOSH A CREATIVE WAY TO WRAP UP LUNCH
By Jill Wendholt Silva Knight Ridder
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
September 28, 2005 Wednesday
3 EDITION
It’s that time of year when lunchbox creativity counts the most.
Sure, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is always a reliable
back-to-school standby. Yes, a ham and cheese sandwich can break the
weekly monotony. But if it’s that elusive cool factor the kids are
looking for when they pop the lid, opt for a wrap sandwich.
These innovative wraps emerged on the food scene more than a decade
ago. Easy to make and take, popular fast-casual restaurants typically
use an extra-large tortilla to wrap. But if you haven’t tried lavosh
– an Armenian cracker bread that is sometimes studded with toasted
sesame seeds or poppy seeds – you’re in for a treat.
Also known as lahvosh, the soft, thin flatbread is made with water,
flour, yeast and salt. The simple recipe has made lavosh popular
throughout the eastern Mediterranean, Iran and the Caucasus since
ancient times, according to Wikipedia, the popular, free online
encyclopedia. The ancient bread comes in hard and soft forms. When
it’s brittle, it can be kept in the pantry, much like a cracker,
for long periods.
To make lavosh pliable, rinse under cold water and place on the
kitchen counter between two slightly damp but clean dish towels.
Thirty to 45 minutes later, you have a pliable bread to roll up into
a sandwich.
Like learning to wrap a burrito or an egg roll, working with lavosh
can have a bit of a learning curve. If you roll the sandwich and it
begins to crack or split, use a spray bottle with water to moisten
the cracker. If the lavosh seems too wet, simply allow it to dry out
slightly between the towels. A thin spread of light cream cheese over
the surface also helps to smooth any wrinkles.
To finish off the sandwich, layer thin sliced deli meats and cheeses.
Add spinach, tomatoes and any other veggies you think you can sneak
in. Roll, jellyroll style, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the sandwich until ready to eat. Cut into pieces with a
sharp knife.
Shopping tip: Lavosh comes in several sizes. Our recipe developers
who shop in one side of the city used 5-inch rounds; on the other
side of the city, I was able to find a 14-inch pizza-size lavosh. If
your supermarket doesn’t stock lavosh, look for it at Middle Eastern
markets.
Storage tip: Unlike regular sandwich bread, lavosh has a shelf-life
of about a year. If you’re like me and run out of bread, keeping a
couple of lavosh on hand is a good way to avoid a late-night run to
the supermarket.
Pump it up: Experiment with different spreads. Try hummus or a chipotle
mayonnaise instead of cream cheese. For a vegetarian sandwich, simply
pile on more veggies.
Lavosh Lunchbox Sandwiches Makes 4 servings
4 (5-inch) large round lavosh
4 tablespoons light garden vegetable cream cheese
1 cup fresh spinach or dark green leafy lettuce
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
7 ounces deli sliced roast beef or lean turkey
Rinse each lavosh round under cold running water for several seconds.
Place between muslin or terry towels for 30 to 45 minutes, or until
pliable. Spread 1 tablespoon cream cheese on each lavosh. Divide
spinach, tomato and deli meat between the 4 lavosh. Roll each lavosh
tightly into a wrap-type sandwich. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
Per serving: 268 calories, 29 percent from fat; 8 grams fat; 28
milligrams cholesterol; 25 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein;
622 milligrams sodium; 3 grams fiber.

GUILTY AS CHARGED; MEETING A RATBAG OF THE WORST KIND
By Patrick Watson
The Advertiser, Australia
October 3, 2005 Monday
AN INTERVIEW with Diamanda Galas is a bit like meeting St Peter. It
could go either way. “I’ve had eight or 10 interviews this morning.
Some journalists ask the most stupid f . . . ing questions. I might
go hang myself in the bathroom,” she says.
It’s the kind of threat that, perhaps, holds just a hint of truth.
After all, this is the same woman who wrote The S . . . of God,
walked the streets as a prostitute in Oakland, California, and has
dedicated four albums to the AIDS epidemic.
A classically trained pianist with an opera singer’s voice of four
octaves, Diamanda Galas has been performing her frighteningly haunting
ballads since 1978.
On her upcoming tour, Guilty Guilty Guilty, she promises a program
of homicidal love songs, including Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil,
Edith Piaf’s Heaven Have Mercy, and Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome
I Could Cry.
They’re not exactly the kind of genres you’d associate with the gaunt
Galas, but at least the subject matter rings true. “Morbidity and
depression aren’t fascinating. It just happens to exist in everything,
like everything else. I’ve my share of the s . . . that life is
composed of,” she says.
“The stoics said if you expect from life only happiness, you’re a
fool. They had it figured out. I don’t make it up. I’m not fascinated
about going through morbid states, but when I talk about it, I talk
about it in an undiluted way.”
The LA Weekly called her “the original badass musician”.
It seems to make sense, particularly for the blatantly nonconformist
artist who has previously written works such as Plague Mass, Concert
for the Damned and something called Defixiones, a meditation on the
Armenian genocide and the politically co-operative denial of it. She
is, she confesses, a ratbag of the worst kind and rejects most of
what society has to offer.
“It’s just a different way of doing it. People think that’s so
depressing and so desperate and it’s so this and that. In fact,
there’s no more to it than Greek women who mourn the dead saying
hello to those below,” she explains.
“It’s not scary music. What is scary to me is not to be able to
express myself. Not expressing myself, now that’s really scary.”
Asked what she thinks about being labelled the “princess of darkness”
and she is outraged: “I’m not the princess, I’m the queen of
darkness. I don’t address these things at all.”
She also hates the term “Goth”: “In America, you’re either black,
white or Hispanic. They look at my white skin and black hair and say
Gothic. They don’t see that I’m Greek.
“Lots of people come up with different opinions. I just do what I do.”
Which includes, of course, her legendary fascination with AIDS:
“When I become involved with an issue like that, it’s not going to
last just two months. It’s a lot of work. It takes years to get to it.
“You have to look at opportunistic infections, medicines, suicide.
Most artists exhaust a subject in five minutes and tomorrow will be
in Hawaii.”
But despite the jutting bones, the black clothes, the skin pallor
and the pagan poetry, Diamanda Gala says she’s just a musician. And,
like many, she feels she’s often misunderstood. Not that she cares.
“I think I’m the most lovable individual in the f . . . ing world,”
she says.
“And, in case you’re wondering, I’m not going to go hang myself in
the toilet after this interview.”
* Diamanda Galas performs Guilty, Guilty, Guilty at the Adelaide Town
Hall on October 16 at 8pm. Bookings at BASS.

THREE OUT OF FIVE TURKS NOT CONFIDENT IN EU: SURVEY
Agence France Presse — English
October 1, 2005 Saturday 10:24 AM GMT
Three out of five Turks say they do not have confidence in the European
Union, just two days before highly charged negotiations on the Muslim
state’s entry to the bloc are due to begin, according to a poll for
the liberal daily Milliyet published Saturday.
Only 17.5 percent of 1,834 people questioned said they had confidence
in the EU, highlighting a significant fall in enthusiasm for membership
over the past year.
In 2004, 67.5 percent believed Turkey should “definitely” join the
EU, compared to 57.4 percent this year, the A and G survey carried
out between September 24 and 29 showed.
Some 18.2 percent of respondents said they were indifferent to the
outcome of the entry negotiations (5.7 percent up on last year)
while 10.3 percent said they opposed integration with the bloc,
a rise of 1.6 percent since 2004.
EU foreign ministers, who disagree sharply on future relations
with Turkey, are meeting on Sunday in an 11th-hour bid to agree a
“negotiation framework” for Monday’s talks.
The meeting comes after member state Austria made its opposition
to full membership for Turkey clear and proposed an alternative
“privileged partnership”, an option rejected by 59.8 percent of those
surveyed by A and G and flatly refused by the Turkish government.
“If we fail to see the honesty we expect, Turkey’s response will
undoubtedly be very different from what has been said so far,” the
Anatolia news agency reported Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as
saying Friday.
Some French politicians, including presidential hopeful Nicolas
Sarkozy, have also expressed doubts over full membership for
Turkey, which was an explosive issue during the French government’s
unsuccessful campaign to ratify the EU constitution in May.
However Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has urged the EU to
“maintain its credibility” and resist taking a step backwards by
opting for a “privileged partnership”.
“The EU recognised Turkey as a candidate country in 1999 without
expressing any such reservation,” he told French daily Le Figaro
in September.
In recent weeks the Turkish press has reported growing public
frustration with the EU’s hesitations over Turkish membership amid
growing pressure to recognise Cyprus and over controversial massacres
of Armenians under the Ottoman empire.
According to a smaller survey by AC Nielsen, broadcast on Friday by
the Kanal D TV station, 70 percent of Turks still back negotiations
on integration with the bloc but only 47 percent believe that they
will begin on Monday as planned.
Some 55 percent of those questioned blamed France as responsible for
stalling the talks, ahead of Germany and Britain (15 percent), Greece
(seven percent) and Austria (six percent).
Turkey first applied to join the bloc in the 1960s and entry
negotiations are expected to last at least a decade.

TURKEY’S ENTRY ‘WILL DECIDE FATE OF EU’
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Oct 3 2005
Ankara: European leaders must decide whether the European Union will
rise to the challenge of becoming a global power or remain a “Christian
club”, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in statements
published yesterday that Turkey was not intent on starting European
Union membership talks at any price, reiterating Ankara’s position
that it will not accept new conditions or alternatives to full EU
membership.
Predominantly Muslim Turkey, a largely poor country of about 70
million, is scheduled to start long-awaited membership talks today,
but those talks have now been thrown into disarray over Austrian
objections.
EU foreign ministers were to hold a last-ditch meeting in Luxembourg
later yesterday to try and overcome reservations from Austria, which
wants Turkey to be offered a “privileged partnership” with the EU
instead of full membership.
“We are not striving to begin negotiations no matter what, at any
cost,” Gul said in an interview published in Yeni Safak newspaper.
“If the problems aren’t solved then the negotiations won’t begin.”
Several countries also have been pushing Turkey to recognise EU
member Cyprus, and the European Parliament called on Turkey this
week to recognise the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the
beginning of the 20th century as genocide.
Erdogan, addressing lawmakers of his party at a resort just outside
Ankara, said Europe was at a historic crossroad.
“Either it will show political maturity and become a global power,
or it will end up a Christian club,” he said.
“No EU decision will deviate Turkey from its course” toward further
democracy and reforms, he said.
“We will, however, be saddened that a project for the alliance of
civilisations will be harmed.”
Erdogan spoke to Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel by telephone on
Saturday, telling him that a privileged partnership was not an option.
After more than 40 years of aspiring to join the European Union,
Turkey feels it is being held hostage on the eve of negotiations
by Austrian leaders using Turkey’s EU bid as an issue in upcoming
national elections.
Thousands of supporters of an anti-EU ultranationalist party were
scheduled to hold a rally in Ankara yesterday, in part to protest
increasing demands and conditions being forced on Turkey.
Gul said on Saturday, “If the European Union decides not to keep its
word, if its own leaders decide to forget their signatures beneath
the decisions they’ve made before the ink has even dried … if they
decide to ignore all this and impose new conditions that Turkey will
never accept … then of course in that case this kind of partnership
can never be.”
A poll by A&G Research of 1,834 people in 19 provinces showed the
majority of Turkish people remain supportive of the EU bid, with 57.4
per cent agreeing with the statement, “Turkey must join” the EU.
The poll, taken on September 24-29, had a margin of error of 2
per cent.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN POLITICIANS, US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL DISCUSS REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES
Aravot, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
Text of Anna Israelyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on 27
September headlined “Revolutionary or evolutionary development?”
Representatives of the Armenian opposition are trying to get an answer
even to this dilemma during their meetings with various representatives
of the US administration.
The US ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, recently said: “The USA will
soon come up with new initiatives aimed at supporting free and fair
parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia in 2007 and 2008.”
Did he mean initiatives which prompted a number of American officials
to visit Armenia over the last few month? The US embassy has not said
anything about them. Specifically, we mean the visit by the woman who
deals with Armenia’s problems at the US Department of State and then,
the visit by a group of the US National Intelligence Council who met
the leaders of different opposition political parties and discussed
the domestic political situation in Armenia. These leaders were Aram
Sarkisyan [leader of the Anrapetutyun Party], Ovanes Ovanesyan, Aram
Karapetyan, Stepan Demirchyan [leader of the opposition Justice faction
in parliament], Viktor Dallakyan [secretary of the Justice faction]
and Vazgen Manukyan [leader of the National Democratic Union]. They
also met the head of Eastern Europe and Russia department of the US
National Intelligence Council, Martin Schwartz.
The meeting lasted for a very long time. The leader of the National
Democratic Union, Vazgen Manukyan, said that they discussed the
general situation: “He [Schwartz] wondered about ways of development
the opposition political leaders foresee. What processes are taking
place in Armenia and in the region? How democratic and stable are
these states? This was a factfinding visit rather than a visit aimed
at drawing up a programme.” Vazgen Manukyan added that they also
touched on the constitutional reforms.
The leader of the Anrapetutyun [Republic] Party, Aram Sarkisyan,
said that Schwartz was very interested in the domestic political
situation in Armenia: “He gave an opportunity to all the opposition
leaders to talk about their approaches and views. Schwartz said that
until recently they paid more attention to relations between Ukraine
and Russia, but now the time has come when they are also interested
in what is taking place in other regions. He spent more time asking
questions than presenting his own approaches. Certainly, we were also
given an opportunity to ask questions. But this dialogue cannot be
made public. This meeting was organized by the US embassy and they
can disseminate this information if they want.”
The secretary of the Justice faction, Viktor Dallakyan, said: “Schwartz
asked a question and all talks concentrated on that: revolutionary or
evolutionary development in Armenia? All participants in the meeting
replied that in Armenia it is impossible to achieve anything by means
of evolutionary changes. I said that in fact, it is impossible to
come to power in an election, which is why we have to take the path
of revolutionary changes, and Schwartz did not object to this.”

SOLANA WARNS OF ‘HUGE RISK’ IF EU REFUSES TURKEY ENTRY
Agence France Presse — English
October 1, 2005 Saturday 11:27 AM GMT
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has warned of “a
huge risk of leaving Turkey without an anchor in the world”, should
the bloc not make progress on membership for the mainly Muslim state
in Monday’s scheduled negotiations.
“Let’s look 25 years ahead and imagine that we have said no to Turkey,
that it has been a disaster for the Middle East and there are huge
oil and energy crises,” Solana said in an interview published Saturday
in daily newspaper Le Soir.
“Perhaps we will regret not having said yes to incorporating Turkey
into our way of thinking, to our philosophy and our values…
“There is a huge risk of leaving Turkey without an anchor in the
world. It is better for EU citizens to have Turkey on our side than
.. I don’t know where,” he warned, adding that the EU must “respect.
its commitments” to the candidate state.
Turkey first applied to join the bloc in the 1960s and was accepted
as a candidate country in 1999.
Formal entry talks are due to start in Luxembourg on Monday, but
member state Austria has prevented the agreement of a negotiating
framework by opposing full member status in favour of a “privileged
partnership”, an option flatly rejected by Ankara.
EU foreign ministers are to open talks in Luxembourg late on Sunday
to try to come to a last-minute agreement on negotiation terms.
“The situation is not easy … but I don’t doubt that we will find
a solution,” Solana predicted.
Entry talks have been further complicated by Ankara’s ongoing refusal
to recognise Cyprus, now an EU member state, and to accept that
massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire amounted to “genocide.”
An opinion poll published Saturday in Turkish daily Milliyet showed
a 10 percent drop in public support for EU entry, now running at 57.4
percent, and confidence in the bloc running at 17.5 percent.
While the candidacies of Turkey and Croatia are not officially linked,
Austria’s conservative Chancellor Wolfgang Scheussel last week pressed
Croatia’s case over that of Turkey.
Accession negotiations with Croatia were deferred in March due to a
lack of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the UN war crimes court.
However Solana warned that conflating the two applications was “not
a good idea”.
“If Turkey is ready, we must begin (talks). And if Croatia is ready,
there too. But we can’t have a quid pro quo with the fate of these
countries’ populations,” he said.
The EU working group on Croatia, which includes Solana, is due to
convene on Monday morning with chief UN warcrimes prosecutor Carla
Del Ponte.

SARKISIAN’S BROTHER ADMITS BUSINESS INTERESTS ABROAD
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2005
The older brother of Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian insisted on
Monday that he never considered emigrating or hid from anyone during
his prolonged and mysterious absence from Armenia.
Aleksandr Sarkisian, who owns a lucrative business and holds a seat
in the Armenian parliament, also effectively admitted having moved
a considerable part of his assets overseas.
“I’m not the kind of guy who would flee and leave his family behind,”
he told journalists. “I have no reason to be in hiding. My wife and
two sons have been here all the time.”
Sarkisian has spent most of the past year abroad and has not been
seen in public in Armenia for many months. He is known to have lived
for up to six months in Britain and other parts of Western European
and was reportedly in the United States in the last few months.
Sarkisian’s absence prompted far-reaching speculation in the Armenian
press. Some newspapers have alleged that he left the country for good,
fearing retribution for a 2002 murder in Yerevan of a Russian crime
figure of Armenian descent which was linked with his name.
Sarkisian angrily denied such claims. “There is no guy in Armenian
from whom I would run away. You understand?” he said.
Newspapers critical of Armenia’s leadership a have also claimed that
Sarkisian has spent millions of dollars on buying real estate in
Britain and California. “When the value of real property acquired
by him in Los Angeles surpassed 12 million [dollars] he immediately
attracted the attention of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations,”
one of those papers, “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun,” reported on September
16. “They demanded that Sashik Sarkisian present an income and
property declaration, which the National Assembly deputy did, showing
U.S. law-enforcers a $30 million declaration.”
Sarkisian did not deny the report, saying that his visits abroad
“had to do with both my health and business.” But he did not give
details of his overseas business activities.
“We are considered high-level officials and file financial declarations
every year. I have a firm and engage in business. Fifty percent of
the Multi Lion firm is mine,” Sarkisian said, referring to Armenia’s
leading supplier of liquefied gas to households, cars and buses.
The rest of Multi Lion is owned by Gagik Tsarukian, one of Armenia’s
richest men close to President Robert Kocharian and his powerful
defense minister. It is part of Tsarukian’s Multi Group conglomerate
that comprises over 40 big and medium-sized businesses. Despite being
lucrative, the vast majority of them were not included in the list
of the country’s leading corporate taxpayers released by the Armenian
government earlier this year.